Дин Бейкер

Progressive economist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington DC. One of the earliest mainstream economists to publicly warn of the US housing bubble — his 2002 paper "The Run-Up in Home Prices: Is It Real?" argued that prices had fundamentally diverged from fundamentals and predicted a crash that would devastate household wealth. This call, largely ignored at the time, proved prescient when the housing market collapsed in 2007-2008. His research spans Social Security sustainability (arguing the system is financially sound for decades), the high costs of US healthcare relative to other developed nations, and the economic impact of intellectual property — particularly his provocative argument that the patent system raises drug prices and that alternative public funding mechanisms would be more efficient. Runs the Beat the Press blog where he provides daily commentary on economic reporting errors and policy debates. Active on Bluesky where he comments on real-time economic data and media coverage of economic issues.